Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!):

1) How old is one of your grandfathers now, or how old would he be if he had lived? Divide this number by 4 and round the number off to a whole number. This is your 'roulette number.'

2) Use your pedigree charts or your family tree genealogy software program to find the person with that number in your ancestral name list (some people call it an 'ahnentafel'). Who is that person?

3) Tell us three facts about that person in your ancestral name list with the 'roulette number.'

4) Write about it in a blog post on your own blog, in a Facebook note or comment, or as a comment on this blog post.

5) If you do not have a person's name for your 'roulette number' then spin the wheel again - pick a grandmother, or yourself, a parent, a favorite aunt or cousin, or even your children!

Mary Ross and her mother Mary (Stotler) Ross

I used Elvis John Brassfield, who would have been 90 years old November 2010. That translates to a number of 23. #23 on my ahnentafel is Mary Hay Stotler, a frequent subject of this blog, so I have some details about her.

Three facts are pretty easy for Mary since I have most of her basic details. She was born in Piatt County, Illinois January 27, 1864. She Married John Franklin Ross March 27, 1889. She died February 15, 1959 and is buried at Lake Creek Cemetery, Rockwell City, Calhoun, Iowa.

Looks like the hardest part of this exercise was determining who was in what position on my ahnentafel, but I already had it figured out to the 20's. Thanks Randy for the Saturday Night Genealogy Fun.